Be the weirdo. The outsider. The streaker in a crowd of fully clothed sheep and champion it. Minneapolis rapper/producer Ecid has been operating on the fringes of rap music for close to a decade, with no co-sign, no angel investor, just an undeniable passion for contributing to the ever changing hip-hop landscape. It feels like just yesterday he was wearing 2xl t-shirts, recording his first songs using a dual tape deck and a stack of gangster rap instrumentals. Now he single handedly orchestrates every detail of his songs from start to finish at an effortless pace, all while wearing his eccentricities like a Super Bowl ring. 2012’s dark- yet triumphantly hopeful Werewolf Hologram showcased Ecid’s ability for abstract narratives and social commentary. A year later the two part EP series Post Euphoria found Ecid at his most rebellious and playful, allowing art to imitate life with a an open invitation into his world, a project that laid the creative groundwork for Pheromone Heavy.

Remember when you first fell in love? When making out felt illegal and you could only dream about a future so far away it seemed impossible? When we’re young they encourage us to chase our dreams but at some point we start chasing money instead. On Pheromone Heavy Ecid poses the question: what if we never stopped chasing our dreams? Our collective apathy could definitely use a good bitch slapping from time to time so we believe in our idealistic dreams again. Even if only for one second we would feel alive again, just like we did in our little strip-mall hometowns we repress from our memories in an attempt to reinvent ourselves.

While studying to become a yoga instructor Ecid had a creative breakthrough and for the first time as an artist he figuredout how to say exactly what he wanted to without forcing the listener to crack the code. The beats are ambitious, soaked in a monstrous, bombastic glory with moments of blissful minimalism that prepare you for the next smile-inducing surprise. This sound was achieved with expertly plucked samples, analog synths, household percussion, and a team of adventurous musicians that understood the sonic vision. On “Watch It Burn” Ecid empathizes with the father that abandoned him, dreaming up a justifiable scenario for his absence while critiquing societies romanticization of money and consumption, a theme that carries throughout the record. “Number One On A Hit List,” the final track recorded for the project, Ecid is delightfully dejected andat the mercy of his dog Uno after running away from him. It’s a sweet ode to the bond between a man and the things he loves most. Pheromone Heavy is a collection of songs about the experiences that are inherently a part of us, the unshakable shadows we dance with upon hearing a forgotten favorite that still hits us like it did back then.